This is a very unique book, mixing feminism with magical fantasy. While outside the box, I found this story to be rather bizarre. Because of that, I’m not sure I got all the metaphors. I felt the story probably could’ve ended 100 pages sooner as it started dragging. Not bad, but I’m not sure I got everything I should’ve from this one. 3 stars.

MY REVIEW: 4.5 Stars

First off let us appreciate the beautiful cover of this book!!

I had mixed thoughts on the book. In the beginning I loved reading about these women turning into dragons. I was hoping it was going to be more about these dragon women. But, the book focused on Alex and her coming of age story.

Alex goes through a lot of sadness in this book. I give kudos to her for taking care of her cousin/sister Beatrice, while still in school.

There were a couple of things here and there I didn’t care for but over all I loved it and want the hardback.

I totally get where the book was going at the end with the dragon women and what this was actually standing for in the world back in the day.

Like I said, I definitely hope to add the physical copy of this book to my collection

*Thank you to Netgalley for a digital copy of the book.

This was a little slow to start, but once it got going about two-thirds of the way in, I was INVESTED. I think having dragons in the title when they don't show up until near the end of the book is a bit ambitious and misleading, but I won't detract any stars in my rating for it - just a personal opinion I wanted to note.

As an alternate history type of "American retelling", I really enjoyed the time period and setting and how the author handled things in terms of believability and world-building. There were a few moments where it felt like maybe this could've benefitted from being a bit longer, because some of the ideas felt a little unfinished or not fully formed - this only pulled me out of the story a couple of times, though, and I was able to continue without issue.

I think the style of storytelling (switching between a character & some writing) is unique and worked well here, although the pacing felt off at times for me - there were moments where I feel like the reports could've come a bit later, after another chapter or two. Still, I think that overall this was a good story with some deep messages that the reader can pull from it - I'll probably grab a finished copy to reread and annotate myself later.

Thank you @netgalley for the eARC!

I am trying to get more into fantasy so that’s what drew me to request this one. It didn’t quite do it for me. It wasn’t until 2/3 through the book where the dragon action finally took place. I kept waiting and waiting. All I wanted was to be immersed in the world and it just took a long time to get there.

What I did love about the book was the relationship between Alex and her cousin/sister/daughter. I despised Alexs father. And was pretty angry with Marla at the beginning. I guess what I’m saying is, there could’ve been more action and visuals and some of the relationships just made me too mad to be focused on the overall story.

A very cool concept in line with the likes of The Upstairs House and Nightbitch, this book imagines what would happen if female rage could turn women into dragons. Avery lyrical piece of speculative fiction that doesn't do quite enough, but is still an enjoyable read.

When Women We’re Dragons is a thought-provoking allegory about how women are viewed in our world, particularly by men, but also how this affects how they view themselves. I found it to be very well-written, with well-developed female characters and an interesting, unusual plot line. My one quibble is that the men were, for the most part, less well-developed, and were almost all depicted as weak, self-centered villains. I would recommend it!

When Women Were Dragons is an alternate history, set in a nearly-recognizable America in the 1950s and 1960s - but there are dragons, not just then, but scattered throughout history. Largely ignored, dragons are predominantly transformed women; scattered transformations have occurred throughout history, but a massive transformation of women into dragons occurs in 1955, and for all that it, too, is ignored - as.much as such an event can be ignored - this events impacts society. Children are taught not to mention the missing, not to look at the skies, and all of society is given explanations that ignore dragons, even in the face of eyewitness accounts.

Told through the experiences of Alexandra (Alex, by preference), much of the broad strokes of history and societal attitudes will be familiar to anyone with any knowledge of the era, but many of the issues effecting society, and particularly women, are retold through the lens of the missing women and the dragons they become. Alex’s aunt Marla is one such woman, and her daughter, Beatrice, is left behind, adopted by Alex’s mother, and somewhat more reluctantly by her father. Alex’s mother is ill , her father works long hours (or is he really working all that time?), and Alex is left to raise her cousin/sister largely on her own.

This novel addresses equality via the rights of dragons rather than via gender, and thus bypasses many f the related issues; dragons are far from powerless, and some husbands, assumed to be abusive, vanish when a woman in their lives transforms - although the explanation never mentions dragons; instead, the man vanished in a fire, and explosion. It also touches on sexuality in ways that reflect historical issues, evolving as time elapses. Watching Alex change over time, with the times and from her own experiences, is well done, and yet the novel seemed to end too abruptly, and with an ending that seems too pat.

I had hoped to like this book, but I didn't. It felt very inconsistent, like there were too many ideas involved and none of them flowed. I enjoyed the dragon aspect but that honestly was probably the only part I liked. I struggled to finish this book because it didn't captivate me and I contemplated DNF-ing it several times.

Alex lives in a male dominated world. Her aunt Marla used to be a pilot but now can only get a mechanics job because she is better than the men. Women are supposed to be mothers. But sometimes things just happen and they change. But one can’t talk about them. Like dragons. Alex thinks she saw a dragon, but she was told she didn’t. There are no dragons. Sometimes women just disappear. Like her aunt Marla, she just never was one day. For Alex, as one who questions. Life is difficult in this world. Even more so for her cousin, no sister Bea, who wants to be a dragon. An entertaining story that is alittle to close to home.

Alex Green is a girl who is growing up in the 1950s. She is navigating many familiar things--going to school, having a first crush, fending off an overly protective mother, and looking out for her younger sister. But in this version of America, things are a little different than you might expect. On a seemingly normal day, thousands of women suddenly turned into dragons and flew away, including Alex's Aunt Marla. Alex's "sister" Beatrice is actually her cousin, but no one is allowed to talk about the women who turned into dragons or the pain and confusion their leaving caused. Alex sets out to find the answers about just what happened that day, for herself, for her aunt, and for her beloved Beatrice who is showing signs of becoming a dragon like her mother.
For readers who like all of the answers, this might be a frustrating experience. Alex's own failed attempts as a child and young adult to get more information are interspersed with a scientist's reports as he tries to research the phenomenon of turning into a dragon and is thwarted at every turn by politicians and other scientists who want to keep everyone in the dark. But it rings very true to that experience of knowing that something bigger is going on and having your questions ignored because you're not old enough, or it doesn't concern you.

Kelly Barnhill's writing is excellent. She clearly depicts the anger of a girl and then a woman who is kept from answers, left without support, and then belittled as she tries to use her intellect and skills. This is obviously a book about feminism and female anger. In America in May 2022, when women are dealing with parenting during a multi-year pandemic, a formula shortage, multiple mass shootings, and the potential overturning of Roe v. Wade, many of us are very angry. Reading When Women Were Dragons can give readers hope that they are not the only ones who are angry; in fact, women have been angry for a very long time. But it also reminds us that we aren't alone, and that we can make bold choices to protect and defend ourselves and the women we love.


When Women Were Dragons
By Kelly Barnhill
Doubleday Books May 2022
352 pages
Read via Netgalley

Dragons, feminism, and urban fantasy, what’s not to love? When women were dragons was such a fun and meaningful read, we get to discover “dragoning” with Alex and follow her through her life growing up in 1960s America.

I will not be giving feedback on this title. I gave it almost 4 hours and there is not enough going on in the plot to make me want to continue. I think the problem here, for me, is that we have a child as a protagonist. A child who spends a great deal of time telling us that the adults do not share information with her or allow her to ask questions. As the reader, I got really tired of not getting any answers. Sorry, gave this a real shot, but it's not for me. I will not be posting a DNF review.

I really wanted to love this but struggled getting into it! wish it were more intersectional, or just more modern (which sounds impossible for something that is magical realism-historical fiction vibes but I swear it is not indeed impossible). Felt a touch repetitive to me, which was such a bummer because the premise and potential for absolutely electric rage and rawness was SO GOOD!!!!!!!

A HUGE thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I LOVED this book. 5 stars all around! Of course, the premise is amazing, where hundreds and thousands of women in 1955 spontaneously turn into dragons and devour their unfaithful and unloving husbands in what is called the "Mass Dragoning". I loved how the history in this book was treated as non-fiction, with scholarly papers about this dragoning event interspersed between the chapters.

The main character, Alex, was immediately compelling and a character who is easy to sympathize with. This book made me simultaneously angry at all the gaslighting and sexism she has to deal with, but the idea of women rising up and becoming fire-breathing magical beasts was definitely empowering. I could go on and on— I just loved this book!

This speculative historical novel set in 1950s America which personifies women breaking out of the constriction of the era by “dragoning” is thematically very similar to Lessons in Chemistry, which I read recently, but is light years away from it in terms of genre and style. Where Chemistry is frothily realistic, Dragons is slow and rather serious - your choice but my preference is always for the funny.

Alex(andra) Green is a strange child living in strange times. On April 25, 1955, there was a Mass Dragoning in which 642,987 American women became dragons. Some simply flew off, others took vengeance on husbands or bosses before leaving. But it was an event, along with other spontaneous dragonings that happened before or after, that was never to be spoken of, never acknowledged, and never to be thought about. This puts Alex in a tricky position because her Aunt Marla dragoned and vanished from the family’s story and she left behind her small daughter Beatrice who then becomes Alex’s sister.

The novel moves rather sluggishly through Alex’s childhood, her passionate friendship with another girl that is abruptly stopped by her father, and her mother’s death. Following this event, it picks up a little, for me, when Alex’s father moves her and Beatrice into a rundown apartment to fend for themselves while he moves in with his mistress and their children. The fragile relationship and the contrast between the two girls is beautifully drawn: Beatrice is effervescent and physical, Alex is quieter and intellectual but they have such a strong bond as they only have each other.

The novel is interspersed with academic papers and presentations about dragoning which gives us a wider context and introduces us to characters who later appear in the book. There’s also a librarian who is a crucial figure both in Alex’s life and in the wider world - yay librarians!

I found dragoning as an expression of early feminism to be maybe a little heavy handedly metaphorical but at the same time, I delighted in the author’s translation of the longing women feel for something “beyond the limits of the daily tasks of washing and straightening and keeping up appearances” and their busting out of their limits to be very satisfying. The description of Marla as someone who’s “always been bigger on the inside than she is on the outside” is very evocative.

I truly enjoyed the scenes of when the dragons start coming back home, ready to pick up domestic tasks again but with a new perspective. I usually avoid novels with dragons in them because it’s often a signal for the type of fantasy I don’t enjoy. Dragons here, however, are symbols and it works pretty well.

Thanks to Doubleday and Netgalley for the digital review copy.

This book made me angry and so happy all at once.

I really liked our main character and the growth she goes through as she goes from cousin ot sister to mother as the world changes around her. I adored the female rage turned dragoning.

I have recommended this to every person born and socialized female that I have come across. Stunning and so important.

Dragons and fantasy and feminists. Probably all you need to hear to read this one! It’s stunning! The story captures you right from the beginning and in the end you are left hoping and wishing this was the world you lived in! The author did a wonderful job of writing about the strength of women—who are all powerful dragons in their own ways! I loved this book and would recommend to anyone!

What would happen in America if women got so fed up with the way men treat them and the way men run the world? They'd spontaneously turn into dragons of course, and start to use their strength and power to set things right. Eventually. I loved this book so much I was upset when I got to the end and had to accept that it wasn't non-fiction.

Kelly Barnhill is an exquisite storyteller! I love that this story isn't so allegorical that it feels moralizing. I love that the mystery of it all is kept a little vague. I also really appreciate that she can tell a gender-specific speculative story without, to my eyes, being transphobic about it (but listen to reviews from trans readers over my opinion). The way this story doles out details keeps you absolutely spellbound and it's a real treat. The Girl Who Drank the Moon is probably my all time favorite middle grade fantasy, and I sincerely hope Kelly Barnhill continues writing for adults because I'm selfish!